Austerity is not what comes to mind when I think of Japan. The government spends enormous amounts on stimulating the economy (budget deficit of 6% of GDP). The government has also recognized that one way to deal with the demographic crunch is to get more women into the workforce. And they’re getting results, according to the OECD* two thirds of Japanese women were in the labor force in 2015, which means the number of people working has actually increased despite the demographic decline. It puts Japan just behind the United States female labor participation rate, and means Japan probably surpassed America in 2016 if the trend continues (in the US the participation rate is shrinking for some reason). I think some of the people in this thread argue a bit too forcefully, based on outdated information and even national stereotypes, rather than actual knowledge.
And yet, little to no support for child care, time off, etc. Abe’s “stimulus” was undercut by announcing a tax increase which he cannot implement because… there isn’t much actual stimulus to the economy. It’s a bunch of balance-of-trade twiddling, essentially a right wing banker’s version of stimulus. Krugman pointed this out a number of times whenever Abe’s initiatives came up. You say stereotypes, I say a particularly uncreative rehash of the not-stimulating-stimulus that Western bankers think amounts to an economic response. Hollande did the same kind of crap for France. The undisguised austerity has only come to southern Europe at the behest of Germany, and Britain at the behest of the City. It’s more of a Western thing, but there’s different flavors all over.
